Benedict pulls no punches in Cuba

Thursday

Mar 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 29, 2012 at 10:28 AM

HAVANA - Pope Benedict XVI demanded more freedom for the Catholic Church in communist-run Cuba and preached against "fanaticism" in an unusually political sermon yesterday before hundreds of thousands at Revolution Plaza, with President Raul Castro in the front row.

HAVANA — Pope Benedict XVI demanded more freedom for the Catholic Church in communist-run Cuba and preached against “fanaticism” in an unusually political sermon yesterday before hundreds of thousands at Revolution Plaza, with President Raul Castro in the front row.

Before the pope’s departure, he met with the president’s brother, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Castro grilled the pontiff on changes in church liturgy and his role as spiritual leader of the world’s Catholics, a Vatican spokesman said.

Benedict’s homily was a not-so-subtle jab at the island’s leadership before a vast crowd of Cubans, both in the sprawling plaza and watching on television.

He also clearly urged an end to Cuba’s isolation, a reference to the 50-year U.S. economic embargo and the inability of 11 American presidents and brothers Fidel and Raul Castro to forge peace.

“Cuba and the world need change, but this will occur only if each one is in a position to seek the truth and chooses the way of love, sowing reconciliation and fraternity,” Benedict said.

The remark built upon the famed call of his predecessor, John Paul II, who said in his groundbreaking 1998 visit that Cuba should “open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba.”

With the country’s leadership listening from front-row seats, Benedict referred to the biblical account of how youths persecuted by the Babylonian king “preferred to face death by fire rather than betray their conscience and their faith.”

It was unclear how much the pope’s message resonated with ordinary Cubans.

Many in the crowd had trouble hearing him via the loudspeakers, and others said it was hard to understand the dense biblical message delivered by the pope in a soft voice.

“I don’t understand this Mass at all. I don’t have an education in these things, and I know nothing about religion,” said Mario Mendez, a 19-year-old communications student. “On top of that, I can’t hear anything.”

Benedict’s trip was aimed largely at building a greater place for his church in the least Catholic nation in Latin America. In his homily, he urged authorities to let the church more freely preach its message and educate its young in the faith in schools and universities. Religious schools were closed after the Castros came to power a half-century ago.

He praised openings for religion made since the early 1990s, when the government abandoned official atheism and slowly warmed to the church, a pattern that accelerated with the visit of Pope John Paul II.

“It must be said with joy that in Cuba steps have been taken to enable the church to carry out her essential mission of expressing her faith openly and publicly,” Benedict said. “Nonetheless this must continue forward” for the good of Cuban society.

Benedict later rode in the popemobile along rainy streets lined with onlookers toward the airport, where he bade goodbye to Raul Castro, Catholic bishops and the Cuban people, and again called for reconciliation.